A 92-year-old Florida woman is in custody after firing shots at a neighbour who refused to give in to her demands for a kiss.

Helen Staudinger, of Fort McCoy, allegedly fired four rounds into 53-year-old Dwight Bettner's house from a pistol, shattering a window. No one was hurt.

€2.9m warrior sculpture is a fake

A sculpture of a Mayan warrior that sold for more than €2.9m at a Paris auction house this week is a fake, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History revealed yesterday.

The stone figure, sold by a private collector, was billed as Pre-Columbian art, dating from 550 to 950 AD. Mexican experts say 66 other auction pieces were also fakes.

Church offers cash for prayers

A church in Ohio is giving away $1,000 (€707) to help fill its pews on Easter Sunday.

Lindenwald Baptist Church in Hamilton will draw names to award $500 each to a member of the congregation and a guest. Pastor Randy Moore hopes to more than double the usual Sunday attendance of around 500.

Serial manure pervert is jailed

A serial pervert with a fetish for cow manure who terrorised a farmer and his family for six years has been jailed for two years in the UK.

David Truscott (41) was discovered in a field, covered in manure and naked apart from a single sock, by the farmer's 16-year-old son on February 26 this year. Truro Crown Court heard yesterday that Truscott, of Camborne, Cornwall, has already been jailed for an arson attack at the farm, which killed a cow.

Stuffed Knut to live on in exhibit

Knut, the Berlin polar bear who rose to fame after his mother abandoned him to be hand-reared by zookeepers, is to be stuffed and exhibited in the city's Natural History Museum.

Knut, who appeared on the cover of 'Vanity Fair' and had legions of fans, died in his enclosure last weekend.

China plans to ban smoking indoors

China, the world's biggest cigarette market, will ban smoking in indoor public places from May 1 as part of government efforts to reduce tobacco use.

The Ministry of Health, which announced the ban on its website yesterday, will also bar installation of cigarette vending machines in public places and not allow outdoor smoking areas to be placed where pedestrians must pass.